Arsenal to repay away fans

Last update The 29/08/2011 at 22:22 - Published on 29/08/2011 at 20:42

By Eurosport - The 29/08/2011 at 22:22

Arsenal have announced that fans who attended Sunday's 8-2 defeat at Manchester United will be able to attend a future away game for free.

Around 3,000 Arsenal supporters suffered a terrible afternoon as their team were taken apart by Sir Alex Ferguson's side and the club have responded by making a gesture to those fans who made the trip north.

All fans who attended the match at Old Trafford will be informed the club will "cover the cost of a match ticket at a future Barclays Premier League away game".

A club statement read: "Sunday's result was obviously disappointing for everyone connected with the club. Our travelling fans were magnificent throughout and we want to recognise their fantastic support. We will be writing to them shortly with the details."

Meanwhile, manager Arsene Wenger has apologised to supporters and insisted he will not walk away from what is clearly a massive job to rebuild the confidence of a club who are still to find replacements for Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, and have collected just a single point from their three Premier League games so far.

"The fans do not want to see their team like that," Wenger told Arsenal World. "We can only apologise and come back in our strength and desire in the next game. Big scores are humiliating and difficult to swallow but I don't think they have a special meaning. They are always under special circumstances."

Yet others see that as a flimsy justification. Indeed, some see the scale of Arsenal's defeat as a positive because it will force the club's hierarchy to take a long, hard look at the future direction of a club who have gone six years without a trophy and already seem incapable of mounting a championship challenge this term.

Confirmation that South Korean forward Park Chu-young will arrive from Monaco in a £10 million deal did not do much to lessen the anger around the Emirates Stadium.

Supporters remain mystified as to why Arsenal did not make an attempt to sign Scott Parker, who is bound for Tottenham, and are questioning the amount of money being made available by the club's owners given the much-needed acquisition of Gary Cahill floundered on Friday following a bid claimed to be around £6m, which Bolton regarded as an insult.

Even with injuries returning - and it could be a month at least before Wilshere is back in action if Fabio Capello's assessment is accurate - Arsenal urgently require reinforcements, otherwise the Champions League campaign they set up by winning at Udinese on Wednesday could be their last for a while.

The visit of Swansea immediately after the international break offers the opportunity for a morale-boosting victory, although for now, skipper Robin van Persie accepts his team-mates have to face up to some pretty harsh facts.

"It is an honest result if you look at the game," said the Gunners captain. "It sounds crazy maybe but Manchester United were much better than us and they punished us hard. We were simply not good enough. We have to deal with that. I don't think we can hide behind injuries or suspensions. It is no excuse. They had injuries too, this is football."